FEVERFEW

Tanacetum parthenium, feverfew, is a traditional medicinal herb in the Asteraceae family which is commonly used to prevent migraine headaches, and is also occasionally grown for ornament. It is also commonly seen in the literature by its synonyms, Chrysanthemum parthenium and Pyrethrum parthenium. It is also sometimes referred to as bachelor's buttons or featherfew.

The plant is covered by flowers reminiscent of daisies and grows into a small bush up to around 46 cm high with citrus-scented leaves. It spreads rapidly, and will cover a wide area after a few years. The species grows to up to 60 cm high. The leaves are variously pinnatifid with conspicuous flowers up to 20 mm across. The outer florets are all ligulate and white. The inner florets are yellow and tubular in lax corymbs.

Feverfew has been used as a herbal treatment to reduce fever and to treat headaches, arthritis and digestive problems. The active ingredients in feverfew include parthenolide. There has been some scientific interest in parthenolide, which has been shown to induce apoptosis in some cancer cell lines in vitro and potentially to target cancer stem cells.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.